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NCAA Basketball: Power ranking teams in the state of Ohio for 2019-20

By Ben Andreatta

CINCINNATI, OH - FEBRUARY 28: Xavier Musketeers players celebrate after winning the Big East Conference regular season title with an 84-74 win over the Providence Friars at Cintas Center on February 28, 2018 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OH - FEBRUARY 28: Xavier Musketeers players celebrate after winning the Big East Conference regular season title with an 84-74 win over the Providence Friars at Cintas Center on February 28, 2018 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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ST. LOUIS, MO – MARCH 23: (L-R) Walter Offutt #3, Ivo Baltic #23, D.J. Cooper #5 and Jon Smith #21 of the Ohio Bobcats huddle up against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball Midwest Regional Semifinal at Edward Jones Dome on March 23, 2012 in St. Louis, Missouri. North Carolina won 73-65. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO – MARCH 23: (L-R) Walter Offutt #3, Ivo Baltic #23, D.J. Cooper #5 and Jon Smith #21 of the Ohio Bobcats huddle up against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball Midwest Regional Semifinal at Edward Jones Dome on March 23, 2012 in St. Louis, Missouri. North Carolina won 73-65. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

13. Cleveland State Vikings

Cleveland State is the lowest-ranked team in our pre-season power rankings after a dreadful 10 win season last year. The Vikings finished in second to the last place in a bad Horizon League conference and posted the 330th worst defense in the entire country. With a lot of returners back from a young squad last year and the return of third-year head coach Dennis Felton, the Vikings have a lot of room to improve. Cleveland State has games with three of the MAC teams from Ohio and will have a chance to move up these rankings when conference play starts.

12. Youngstown State Penguins

The Penguins from Youngstown State take the prize of not being the lowest-ranked division one team in Ohio to kick off the 2019 season. Youngstown State has never made the NCAA Tournament and has a total of three winning seasons since 2000. A record of 4-10 in nonconference play and 8-10 in conference play, land the Penguins right near the bottom of our rankings. It’s hard to have any high expectations for this Penguins program who enter their third season with head coach Jerrod Calhoun. They find themselves one spot better of their conference foes Cleveland State. They’ll travel to Akron in a nonconference contest in November and will see  Cleveland State and Wright State this season in conference play.

11. Ohio Bobcats

Rough news for the Bobcats with leading scorer Jason Carter transferring to another school in Ohio, Xavier. Coming off a 14-17 season in the MAC, Ohio finds themselves as the lowest-ranked MAC school after finishing in last place in the MAC East. Saul Phillips looks to right the ship for Ohio and bring them another 20 win season. Ben Roderick is a huge get for the Bobcats, Roderick was the 2018-2019 Gatorade Boys Player of the Year. Going to be a difficult year for the Bobcats with games against Villanova and Baylor however what looks to be the highlight of the year is Purdue making the trip to play Ohio in Athens.

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